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Alex held out his hand and Y/n took it. He could feel her shaking.

Y/n held his hand tightly, and the knife even tighter. Her whole body fluttered like a leaf in the wind. ‘Dad would be so ashamed,’ She thought. ‘Going with a stranger; being so weak.’

Y/n brought a hand to her face and wiped away the still remaining tears. Alex pretended he didn’t notice.

The two mutants walked hand in hand back towards the road. The trail was twisting and snake like and as they walked around one of its many turns, Y/n gasped and stumbled back in surprise. She brought up the knife in front of her. There was another man standing in the middle of the path. Y/n recognized him as the redhead from before.

“Hey it’s alright. It’s alright,” Alex turned to her and brought up his hands. “That’s just Sean. He’s from the school too,”

Y/n slowly lowered her knife. But not all the way.

“Holy crap you guys!” Sean wheezed as he clutched the stich in his chest. “You two are like frickin lightening blots,”

“Hi Sean good to see you’re getting your exercise,” Alex said. “Anyway, she’s agreed to come back with us,”

“Oh cool!” Sean panted. “I’m so glad….that we… aren’t running…anymore,”

“Come on let’s go.” Alex grabbed Sean by the arm and pulled him towards the road. Sean unhappily forced his legs to move again.

Alex looked behind them to check if she was still following. She was. There was a little pang in his chest when he realized that the girl wasn’t holding on to his hand anymore. And with Sean here it was too awkward to offer again. He furrowed his brow and pulled Sean a little harder than he needed too.

When the Professor sent the two boys out on the mission, he lent them a van. A rusty old thing but it still worked. Sure, Y/n’s house was only a few miles away from the school but it made things easier. Charles said it was more professional then having them walk. Alex said nothing about that van looked professional. But he and Sean took it anyway.

Alex had parked it a couple streets away from where they found Y/n and the two boys started walking to it.

Y/n followed them, keeping her distance. She was still on high alert (and still crying a little). Though she was trying desperately to hide it.

Y/n saw the van up ahead, pulled over on the side of the road. She stopped dead in her path, warning signs and red flags popping up in her mind. ‘Never get into a vehicle,’ He father always said. ‘Once they start driving you have no say in where you go.’

“You alright?” Alex looking at her, concern on his face.

“I’m not getting in that.”

“Well, I know it’s a bit of a clunker but it’s safe,” Sean assured.

“I’m not getting in. Because you could take me somewhere I don’t want to go,” Her tone was strained as she explained her reasoning.

“What?” Sean looked at Alex confused. “We’re not going to kidnap you!” ‘Why would she even think that?’ He thought.

Y/n tensed up as Sean raised his voice. Alex whacked his partner on the back of the head. “Shut up,” He walked over to Y/n.

“We can walk from here. It’s not that far,” He said soothingly, noticing the tears still glistening on her cheeks. He didn’t want to start her crying again. And there was no way in hell he was forcing her into the van.

Sean groan. “Not that far!? It’s like ten miles, man. I can’t do that! Not after that frickin marathon!”

Y/n pursed her lips. The trip on her knife tightened. Alex groaned inwardly. ‘This girl was just calming down,’

“If you don’t want to walk, then here have the keys,” He reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and tossed Sean the keys. “Meet us there.”

Sean silently celebrated, and hopped into the driver’s seat. “Well um...”He said awkwardly leaning out the window, shaking his head to keep his orange mop of hair out of his eyes. “Have fun on your walk,” He looked at Y/n curiously; he didn’t know anything about this girl. Then pulled away. Dust blew up behind the van as drove off. The two left on the road coughed and shielded their eyes.

Alex started walking along the side of the road, his hands in his pockets. He consciously made the effort not to look back to see if the girl was there. That would look too suspicious.

Y/n watched the van drive away and Alex walk slowly after it. No one forced her to get into the van, he didn’t even check to see if she was following him. Her heart settled down a little. Y/n quietly put the knife back into its sheath. Maybe she wouldn’t need it after all.

Finally Y/n walked after him, she picked up her pace to so she was right beside Alex. Y/n darted her eyes every now and then - just in case.

The two walked in stiff silence for what seemed like hours, gravel crunching noisily under their feet.

“So…” Alex said at last, his eyes cast firmly on the ground. “I didn’t get your name.”

The girl looked at him. “It’s Y/n,” She replied.

“Y/n…” Alex turned the word over in his mouth. “Pretty name.”

Y/n smiled softly. “Thank you.”

“So… fire… That must be hard to live with…” No one ever said conversations were Alex’s strong suit.

She hummed. “Glowing hula-hoops must be pretty tough too.”

Alex laughed; no one had ever made a joke about his mutation before. They were always too scared of him. This girl was something else. “It’s bearable. For a while it wasn’t, but Charles helped me.” His expression grew somber one again.

Y/n turned her head to him. “Who’s Charles?”

“The professor who runs the school, Charles Xavier.”

“He helped you?”

Alex nodded.

They walked on without speaking, but this time the silence felt more comfortable - less tense.

The scenery changed as they continued their journey. To their right the forest continued, but to their left the trees opened up into a field that smelt of hay and fresh flowers. There was an ancient wobbly stonewall strangling the border between the road and the field. It was covered in moss and falling in apart in sections; but considering it was here since the settlers came here to farm it was in pretty good shape.

Y/n kept right on walking as time passed, unfazed by the growing heat and physical exertion. But Alex was suffering. He didn’t want to say anything, but they had been walking for hours. He was tired. He didn’t even stretch this morning.

Alex stopped walking for a moment to give himself a break; letting Y/n get ahead of him. “Hey,” He called. “We’ve been walking for hours now, do you want to sit down?” Alex gestured to the stonewall.

Y/n turned. She looked at him, then the stonewall, then back at him. ‘Why does he want me to sit down? Why does he want me to sit on the stonewall particularly? Was a trap? Ambush?’ She thought. Then she noticed Alex’s heavy breathing and the very noticeable sweat on his brow.

She laughed. “Why? You tired?”

“What? No…”

“Oh alright, then I guess we should just keep walking.” She took a step backwards and began to turn away, an impish smile playing on her face.

“Wait! Alright, I admit it. I’m tired. Let’s just…sit.”

“Well, in that case... Sure.”

Y/n stepped over to the wall and hopped up next to Alex. She sighed and looked up at the sky, letting her legs relax.

“So don’t you don’t have anyone you want to tell that you’re leaving?” Alex probed cautiously. He wanted to talk to this girl, to know her. But he also didn’t want to start a forest fire.

“No. It’s just me,” Y/n muttered. “Though, I think my land lord might be a little annoyed if I just skipped out and left all my stuff there.”

He chuckled. “If you decide to stay, we can come back and get your things.”

She paused and then nodded, thinking it over. “So what about you? Do you have anyone?”

“I didn’t for a long time. But now, I think I do.”

Y/n didn’t say anything; she just stared up at the clouds. Alex could see the walls she’d built around herself. She didn’t trust him. And more importantly she didn’t trust herself. A wave of sadness washed over him. He knew exactly what that was like.

“They locked me up you know,” He spoke suddenly. “In prison. And I was happy about. I couldn’t hurt anyone in there… at least not anyone innocent.”

“They locked you up for being a mutant?”

“No,” He said simply. “I wanted to be there,” Alex fiddled with his fingers. “I insisted they put me in solitary. I couldn’t kill anyone that way.”

“And by insisted you mean; made sure.”

He nodded. “I thought I was doing the right thing, you know? That I wasn’t hurting anyone.”

“You weren’t.”

“I was. I was hurting myself. You know exactly how lonely it gets with no one but yourself to talk to - what kind of state of mind you get it.”

“It’s better than hurting anyone else,” Her tone was terse.

“Are you sure?”

Y/n didn’t say anything. She just pursed her lips

Neither of them said a word for several long minutes. Alex had said his peace. Now he was waiting for her.

“Everything was better before I knew I was a different, you know? The only thing to worry about was whether I would make mud pies before or after naptime.” She paused. “I don’t remember exactly what happened, the day I found out. I suppose I lit something on fire. All I remember is watching my mom pack her bags, hop into the car, and never come back. She wouldn’t even look in the eye.” Y/n clenched her jaw and tried to keep her lip from quivering.

“You don’t know where she went?” Alex asked.

“Oh I found out. Few years ago my dad got really drunk and it sort of… spilled out. She’s in a convent on the other side of the country. Apparently she needed to find God after carrying the devil in her for nine months,”

Alex raised his eyebrows and scoffed. “That’s harsh.”

Y/n laughed. It sounded strained even to her.

“Yeah I guess.” Her throat closed up and she felt like if she started talking again, she might cry. Then again, if she didn’t talk she might cry. It was a lose-lose situation. Y/n swung her feet as she sat, trying to distract herself. “Dad always kinda blamed me for her leaving. I mean, he never said it outright but… I could tell.”

“I’m sorry.” Alex muttered.

Y/n shrugged.

“Do you live with him now?”

“Used to…” Water welled up in her eyes. “But something happened,” Y/n’s voice broke. “And now it’s just me.”

Alex reached over and grabbed her hand gently. She flinched at his touch but slowly she grew used to it. Y/n tightened her grip and he squeezed back. It was good to feel the warmth of another person. She hadn’t held anyone’s hand for as long as she could remember. Y/n clutched his hand so tight Alex thought it might break.

“I almost killed him,” She sniffed, tears slipping down her face no matter how much she resented them. “He almost burnt to death.”

“But he didn’t,”

“But he could have! I could have done that! I could have killed the one person who stayed in my life… So I left… I made the right decision.”

Alex didn’t say anything – what could he say? He just held her hand as she cried.

With tears in her eyes, Y/n looked up at Alex small smile on her face. “He taught me everything. He spent every waking moment with me.”

Alex squeezed her hand as he watched her grasp at happiness.

“He wanted me to survive. Sometimes he could be a little heavy handed with the criticism. But he wanted to me live! And he was the only other person in my life.” She furrowed her brow. “He never let me have any friends even when I was a kid. He said they were a risk; a liability.”

“That’s not healthy,”

“Yeah,” Y/n scoffed. “I’m starting to figure that out,” The girl paused regaining her train of thought. “But now I live alone.”

Alex nodded. Neither one of them let go of the other.

After a while Y/n whispered, “Are you sure you want me at your school? Are you sure you want a ticking time bomb?”

Alex chuckled, hopping off the wall, and pulling her along with him. “Once we get there The Professor will give you this long winded speech about how they only way to control over your mutation is through happiness, not fear. And that you have to trust yourself to be truly happy…blah blah blah,”

Y/n giggled.

“But whether he admits it or not, The Professor’s pretty good at defusing bombs. I mean after all… he defused me.”

Y/n beamed.

The two swung their joined hands idly as they continued walking. “So, your Dad,” Alex spoke. “He’s the one that taught you to run like that? Because goddamn you are fast.”

Y/n laughed. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

They chatted for several more miles, it was easy and comfortable. Conversing felt natural, which was a rare occurrence for both of them.

When the conversation was in a lull, Alex reached into his jacket and pulled out a cigarette and placed it between his lips.

“You smoke?” Y/n asked.

“It’s the 70s. Everyone smokes,” He joked. Y/n scoffed.

Alex padded his pockets for his lighter. It wasn’t there. He swore under his breath. ‘It must have fallen out in the woods,’ He thought. “Hey do you happen to have a light?”

Y/n raised a delicate finger to the cigarette, inches from his lips. She heated the tip of her finger just enough to send a wisp of smoke up to the sky. The end of the cigarette shimmered orange and yellow as it burnt. Alex could fell the heat radiating from her. He felt blood rushed to his face.

The girl lowered her hand and smirked, continuing on their walk. “Those things will kill you, you know?”

‘Pretty sure you’ll be the death of me first,’ He thought, his cheeks still painted red. “Better than half the other thing out to get me,” He said out loud. “It’s on my own terms.”

Y/n nodded, understanding. “Whatever. Have fun with your cancer stick,” She teased lightly, squeezing his hand. He smiled down at her. He felt the sudden urged to kiss her. Alex quickly pushed that thought away. Now was certainly not the time. He had just gotten her to trust him.

The rest of the walk past quickly. They were both tired by the end of it but each other’s company made the ten miles bearable. They talk about their childhoods, Charles’ school, the people that went to Charles’ school, Alex’s adventure in Cuba, and Y/n’s struggle finding affordable housing that was off the grid. No more tears; just laughter. Good memories and happy stories only.

“Here it is,” Alex pointed up the road. They had finally gotten there. Y/n could just make out the roof of what seemed like a palace over the tips of perfectly manicured trees. Alex was so happy; he never thought this day would end. But at the same time, he didn’t want it to.

Y/n’s training said she should be on high alert going into a new situation. Honestly, she shouldn’t be following a strange boy to an unknown school at all. But she trusted Alex; he seemed ok. They had talked for hours, she felt like she really knew him. Y/n had told Alex things she had never told another living soul before. It just felt right. So when Alex led her through a gateway up a long winding driveway, her gut told her to trust him.

The two stood looking up at the mansion in front of them. It was huge and more lavish than anything Y/n had seen before.

“Wow,” She whispered.

“Yeah, I thought so too,” Alex said. They stood there, soaking it in. Y/n was nervous; this seemed too good to be true. But she really really wanted it to be true.

“I was thinking,” Alex interrupted her thoughts with a slight squeeze of her hand. “If Charles helps you like he did with me… and you feel comfortable with your powers. You might be able to see your dad again.”

Y/n snapped her head around to look him in the eye. ‘Wow that was way out of bonds,’ Alex thought. ‘Should not have said that.’

Slowly a smile spread across her face. A warm feeling shot through her entire body. Hope was not something she had felt in a long time. “Yeah,” She laughed letting the feeling consume her. “That would be amazing!” She beamed as look up into Alex’s sparkling blue eyes. Y/n felt the sudden urge to kiss him but reasoned there would be plenty of time for that later.

They stood looking at each other for several seconds. “Well come on!” Y/n broke the silence excitedly. She pulled Alex towards. “Let’s go!”

‘God,’ Alex thought happily. ‘This girl really is going to be the death of me.’